With 271 deals finalised, 2023 was a good year for AI mergers and acquisitions. Building on that momentum, 2024 is projected to close with 326 AI deals, marking a 20% year-over-year increase. According to Aventis Advisors, the growth in AI deals for 2024 is expected to see 32% growth compared to 2023.
The trend in 2024 AI acquisitions centred on expanding cloud infrastructure, streamlining data management and optimisation, growing generative and sector-specific AI, attracting AI talent, and building cross-platform AI solutions.
Here’s a look at the top mergers and acquisitions that made headlines this year.
1. AMD x Silo AI
AMD acquired Silo AI, Europe’s largest private AI lab, in a $665 million all-cash deal. Founded in 2017 and based in Helsinki, Finland, Silo AI specialises in creating AI models, platforms, and solutions for leading enterprises across industries. Its clients include Allianz, Philips, Rolls-Royce, and Unilever. The company has also played a key role in developing open-source multilingual LLMs like Poro and Viking, optimised for AMD platforms.
2. Databricks x Tabular
Databricks announced its acquisition of Tabular on June 4, 2024, in a deal valued over $1 billion. Tabular, founded in 2021 by Ryan Blue, Daniel Weeks, and Jason Reid, is a data management company specialising in Apache Iceberg, an open-source table format for large analytics datasets. The acquisition brings together the creators of Apache Iceberg and Linux Foundation Delta Lake, the two leading open-source lakehouse formats.
In 2024, Databricks acquired several companies to expand its data and AI capabilities. In January, it acquired Einblick, a data science and AI startup. Lilac, an AI startup working on improving data quality for generative AI and LLMs, was acquired in the same month.
Databricks also acquired Prodvana, a cloud-native infrastructure management startup, in July 2024 to strengthen its cloud capabilities.
3. NVIDIA x Run:ai
In April 2024, NVIDIA acquired Run:ai, an Israeli firm specialising in Kubernetes-powered AI/ML workflow orchestration, in a deal valued at $700 million. Run:ai’s platform helps enterprise clients optimise and manage their compute infrastructure across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. It supports multiple Kubernetes variants and integrates with third-party AI tools and frameworks. Run:ai serves large enterprises in various industries, using its platform to manage GPU clusters at a data-center scale.
NVIDIA also acquired OctoAI, a Seattle-based generative AI startup, for $250 million, as well as Brev.dev, a San Francisco-based startup specialising in AI and machine learning development platforms.
4. Snowflake X Datavolo
On November 20, 2024, Snowflake confirmed its acquisition of Datavolo, a move to boost its data management and pipeline automation capabilities. Founded in 2023 by Joseph Witt and Luke Roquet, Datavolo automates multimodal data pipelines for AI, utilising Apache NiFi to optimise data flow between enterprise sources.
5.Canva X Leonardo.AI
In July 2024, Canva acquired Leonardo.AI, an Australian generative AI startup founded in 2022. The company’s platform, which enables users to create images and videos, saw rapid growth, amassing 19 million users and generating over a billion images in just 18 months. While the deal’s terms weren’t disclosed, it surpassed Leonardo.AI’s prior $80 million valuation.
6.OpenAI X Rockset
OpenAI acquired Rockset on June 21, 2024. Founded in 2016 by former Facebook engineers Venkat Venkataramani and Tudor Bosman, along with database architect Dhruba Borthakur, Rockset focuses on real-time analytics and search database technology. The company had raised over $117.5 million in funding before the acquisition.
This acquisition strengthens OpenAI’s retrieval infrastructure by incorporating Rockset’s technology to enhance data usage and provide real-time insights across AI products. The Rockset team has integrated into OpenAI, with current customers transitioning off the platform.
7. IBM x Hashicorp
IBM announced its plan to acquire HashiCorp on April 24, 2024, for $35 per share in cash, valuing the deal at $6.4 billion. HashiCorp, a leader in multi-cloud infrastructure automation, provides solutions for infrastructure lifecycle management and security lifecycle management in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
With HashiCorp’s tools like Terraform and Vault, IBM plans to enhance its hybrid cloud platform, improving infrastructure management and security, while positioning itself to capture a larger share of the $1.1 trillion cloud market.
8. Salesforce x Tenyx
Salesforce announced its acquisition of Tenyx, an AI voice agent company based in California, on September 3, 2024. Founded in 2022, Tenyx serves industries like e-commerce and healthcare.
9. Microsoft x Inflection
In March 2024, Microsoft struck a $620 million deal with Inflection AI, securing non-exclusive rights to offer Inflection’s AI model via Azure Cloud for several years. An additional $33 million was allocated to waive off claims tied to hiring Inflection employees, bringing the total value of the agreement—including executive compensation—to over $1 billion.
The deal also saw Microsoft hire Inflection’s co-founders, Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, along with approximately 70 other employees. Suleyman assumed the role of CEO of Microsoft’s new consumer AI division, overseeing products such as Copilot, Bing, and Edge.
10. Amazon x Adept
In June 2024, Amazon reached a deal with AI startup Adept, bringing in key executives and licensing its technology. As part of the agreement, Amazon hired Adept’s co-founder and CEO, David Luan, along with other leaders and about two-thirds of Adept’s employees. Luan leads Amazon’s new AGI Autonomy division, reporting to Rohit Prasad, who oversees artificial general intelligence at Amazon.
11. Yotta x IndiQus Technologies
In November 2024, Yotta Data Services acquired IndiQus Technologies, the parent firm of Apiculus, to expand its cloud and AI capabilities.
Through this deal, Yotta expands its portfolio in cloud and AI services, laying the groundwork for an AI-focused cloud platform. IndiQus founders Sunando Bhattacharya and KB Shiv Kumar joined Yotta as chief revenue officer and chief innovation officer, respectively.
12. Thomson Reuters x Materia
Thomson Reuters acquired Materia, a US-based startup that develops AI assistants for tax, audit, and accounting professionals, on October 22, 2024. Founded in 2022, Materia’s platform automates research and workflows, simplifying tasks for accountants.
The acquisition aligns with Thomson Reuters’ AI strategy and will integrate Materia’s technology into its portfolio to deliver generative AI tools and assistants. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
13. HPE x Juniper
On January 9, 2024, HPE acquired Juniper Networks in a deal worth $14 billion, paying $40 per share—32% more than Juniper’s stock price at the close of trading on January 8, 2024. This acquisition was set to accelerate HPE’s ambitions in the networking space, with the merger expected to boost the networking segment’s share of HPE’s total revenue from 18% to 31%. Even more striking, networking now contributes over 56% to HPE’s operating income.
14. AMD x ZT Systems
AMD announced that it had acquired ZT Systems for $4.9 billion on August 19, 2024. The deal consisted of 75% cash and 25% stock, with a potential additional payment of up to $400 million based on performance targets.
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey, ZT Systems specialises in compute design and infrastructure for AI, cloud, and general-purpose computing. With a strong track record of providing essential computing and storage solutions for major cloud providers, the company generates approximately $10 billion in annual revenue.
